The exhibition of Timur Novikov was banned in the Russian Museum

“The new director Alla Manilova personally sealed the halls,” said artist Oleg Maslov

On July 19, the Russian Museum was supposed to host the vernissage of the Novikov Wedge exhibition dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the founder of the New Artists movement (in the 1980s) and the New Academy of Fine Arts (in the 1990s). However, the project did not open on time. Artist Oleg Maslov, one of Timur Novikov’s associates and a member of the New Artists movement, said on his social media page that the exhibition was banned. “The new director Alla Manilova personally sealed the halls!!!” he wrote. In the comments to the post, the ban on the exhibition has already been dubbed “Manilovism” and “medieval nonsense.” “MK” understood the situation.

For the general public, an exhibition that tells about the history of the New Academy in its development and the artistic experiments of Timur Novikov should have opened at the Mikhailovsky Castle on July 20. However, this will not happen. The announcement of the Novikov Wedge project has already disappeared from the website of the Russian Museum. The press service has not yet commented on the situation. However, one of the employees of the State Russian Museum, involved in organizing the exhibition, told MK that it was not about a ban, but about the postponement of the exhibition “for technical reasons.” Other sources confirm this information, explaining the cancellation with paperwork problems. However, another source of “MK” testifies that “technical reasons” are just a cover, with the help of which they are now trying to hush up an uncomfortable situation.

Indeed, to ban the exhibition on the eve of the opening is a serious scandal. Where did you look before? How could documents have been missed if the project was planned ahead of time, even under the previous leadership, and was being prepared for several months? They say that Alla Yuryevna personally missed: the day before the opening of the exhibition of the ironic philosopher of the Perestroika era, she opened the catalog with his works, gasped and bulged her eyes. Such a free and ironic art is not in time, it does not have the necessary patriotic pathos, which is so necessary now, thought Manilova and closed the exhibition – out of harm’s way. In a word, the broom in the Russian Museum sweeps in the direction of proven classics no younger than the 19th century. From the modern to the museum, now only Yaroslav Dronov is glad to see, who sings “I am Russian”, but for some reason signs with a pseudonym in English – SHAMAN. However, the advertising campaign in a patriotic vein, launched by Alla Manilova a month ago, rather caused an ironic smile from the artistic community, and was not understood by the general public. Still, they expect art from the museum, not pop PR.

It should be noted that the Novikov Wedge project, which was going to present about 80 works by 23 artists of the New Academy in various techniques – from painting and sculpture to video art, computer graphics and fashion, was supposed to open in Mikhailovsky Castle for a reason. In 1999, an exhibition of the New Serious movement, the latest project of Timur Novikov, opened here, in the Nikolaevsky Chambers. By that time, the artist had already been sung. He lost his sight after suffering from encephalitis in 1997, and this disease completely changed the landscape of artistic Petersburg. “Before it was dominated by a handsome, ironic young man, cycling through the city like it was Amsterdam, and throwing the first rave parties like it was New York. “After” a half-gray-haired bearded guru appeared in St. Petersburg with a wand and in an invariable frock coat, the origin of which was also mythologized – they said that this was Dostoevsky’s frock coat. He, blind, was led by the arm by his disciples and followers, and this not old yet “old man” continued to control most of the art scene of the northern capital, ”Kira Dolina wrote after the death of the master in an obituary. The artist’s anniversary exhibition would have to show the evolution from the “new wild” art theorist. However, ce la vie and cherchet la femme. Alla Manilova, who took over as director of the Russian Museum a few months ago, seems not ready for such art – smart, free and bold. Timur Novikov has long been a master and a recognized classic. But, this classic was born at a time that is not appropriate to recall today.